5.

1 Evolution

Evolution and Natural Selection

- gene: a sequence of DNA that codes for a particular trait.
- gene pool: all the genes present in a population.
- biological evolution: the change in a population’s gene pool overtime.

Mechanisms of Biological Evolution: Mutation and Migration

- mutation: accidental change in DNA that can give rise to variations among individuals.
- migration (gene flow): movement of individuals into (immigration) or out of (emigration) a population.

Mechanism of Biological Evolution: Genetic Drift and Natural Selection

- genetic drift: evolution that occurs by chance.
- natural selection: process by which traits useful for survival and reproduction are passed on more frequently than those that are
not.

Conditions of Natural Selection

- (1): organisms produce more offspring than can survive.
- (2): individuals vary in characteristics, some of which are heritable.
- (3): individuals vary in fitness, or reproductive success.

Individuals vary in their fitness:

- fitness describes how reproductively successful an organism is in its environment.
- A heritable trait that increases an individual‘s fitness is called adaptation.

Survival of the fittest:

- individuals of high fitness produce more offspring and therefore pass on its genes more frequently.
- an organism that is “fittest” in one place and time may not be the fittest forever.

Artificial Selection:
- selection under human direction.
- Humans have chosen and bred animals and plants with beneficial traits.

Speciation:
- speciation is a process by which new species are generated.
- It can occur in a number of way: the most important way is called allopatric speciation (geographic separation)

Allopatric Speciation:
- allopatric speciation: one population broke into multiple smaller isolated populations. (separation may be due to glacial ice
sheets, rivers changing course, and dry climate)
- any mutations that arise in one population can’t spread to the other; genetic divergence occurs.
- populations may become different enough that they can no longer mate with each other; speciation has occurred.

Extinction:
- extinction is the disappearance of species from earth.
- occurs gradually, one species at a time, when environmental conditions change more rapidly than the species can adapt.
- There are 5 known mass extinction events, each of which wiped out a large proportion of earth’s species.
5.2 Species Interaction

The Niche:
- The niche describes an organism’s use of resources and functional role in a community.
- includes organisms’ habitat, food it eats, how/when it reproduces, and what other organisms it interacts with.
- affected by an organism’s tolerance— its ability to survive and reproduce changing environmental conditions.
- often restricted by competition
1) competition within a species— intraspecific competition
2) competition among 2 different species— interspecific competition

Competition:
- organisms compete when they seek the same limited resource.
- In rare cases, one species can entirely exclude another from using resources. (competitive exclusion)
- to reduce competition, species often partition resources, which can lead to character displacement.
- The niche is the specific role in the community.
- resource partitioning: a process that allows different species to share common resources.
- character displacement: when resource partitioning leads to the evolution of physical characteristics among competing species
that reflect their specialized roles in the environment.

Predation:
- The process by which a predator hunts, kills, and consumes prey.
- Causes cycles in predatory and prey population sizes.
- Defensive traits such as camouflage, mimicry, and warning coloration have evolved in response to predator prey interactions.
- Some predator prey relationships are examples of coevolution, the process by which two species evolve in response to changes in
each other.

Parasitism and herbivory:

- parasitism: one organism (the parasite) relies on another (the host) for nourishment or other benefit. ex: tapeworms and ticks.
- symbiosis is a long lasting and physically close relationship in which at least one organism benefits.
- herbivory: an animal feeding on a plant.

Mutualism and commensalism:

- mutualism: a relationship in which 2+ species benefit. ex: pollination.
- Commensalism: a relationship in which one species benefits while the other is unaffected.

5.3 Ecological Communities

Primary producers (autotrophs):

- Capture energy from the sun or from chemicals and store it in the bonds of sugars, making it available to the rest of the
community.
- Energy from the sun is captured by plants, algae, or bacteria through photosynthesis.
- Sunlight used to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars, releasing oxygen along the way.
- Energy from chemicals is captured by some bacteria through chemosynthesis.
Consumers (heterotrophs):
- Rely on other organisms for energy and nutrients.
- herbivores are plant eaters
- carnivores are meat eaters
- omnivores are combination eaters
- Detritivores consume nonliving organic material.
- Decomposers break down nonliving organic material.
- Detritivores and decomposers recycle nutrients within the ecosystem by breaking down nonliving organic matter. They use
oxygen to break bonds in sugar and release its energy through Cellular respiration (primary producers do this too)

Energy in communities:
- an organism's rank in a feeding hierarchy is its trophic level.
- Primary producers always occupy the first trophic level of any community.
- Only about 10% of the energy available at a trophic level is passed to the next; most of the rest is lost to the environment as
heat.
- Eating at lower trophic levels decreases biological footprint.

Numbers and biomass in communities:

- The trophic level’s biomass is the mass of living tissue it contains.
- There are more organisms & greater biomass at lower trophic levels than at higher ones.

Food chains and webs

- A food chain is a linear series of feeding relationships.
- Food web shows the overlapping and interconnected food chains present in a community.
Keystone species
- species that have strong and/or wide- reaching effects on a community.
- Removal of a keystone species can significantly alter the structure of a community.

5.4 Community Stability

Ecological disturbances
- a community in equilibrium is generally stable and balanced, with most populations at or around carrying capacity.
- Disturbances or changes in the environment can throw a community into disequilibrium.
- Severe disturbances can cause permanent changes to a community and initiate a predictable series of changes called succession.

Primary succession
- occurs when there are no traces of the original community remaining, including vegetation and soil. (Bare expense of rock, sand, or
sediment is exposed for the first time.)
- Pioneer species, such as lichens, are the first to colonize.
- The environment changes as new species move in, adding nutrients and generating habitat.

Secondary succession
- occurs when a disturbance dramatically alters a community but does not completely destroy it. (at least the soil from the previous
ecosystem remains.)
- Common after disturbance such as fire, logging, or farming. Occurs significantly faster than primary succession.

Succession in water
- Primary aquatic succession occurs when an area fills with water for the first time.
- Disturbance such as floods or excess nutrients runoff can lead to secondary aquatic succession.

Climax communities
- ecologists thought that succession leads to stable climax communities. Now, ecologists see communities as temporary,
ever-changing associations of species.
- Communities are influenced by many factors and constant disturbances.

Invasive species
- nonnative organisms that spread widely in a community.
- A lack of limiting factors such as predators, parasites, or competitors enables the population to grow unchecked.
- Not all invasive species are harmful.